Five injured in Guwahati bomb blast (Lead)

Guwahati, Oct 8 (IANS) At least five people were injured, one of them seriously, in a bomb explosion near a crowded Durga Puja pandal in the heart of Guwahati Wednesday evening, officials said.A police spokesman said the low-intensity blast took place near a Durga Puja pandal near Japorigog area at around 8.30 p.m.

“It was a crude bomb triggered to create panic more than anything else in which about five people were injured,” said G.P. Singh, deputy inspector general of Assam police.

Most of the injured were devotees thronging the Durga Puja pandal.

“The injured were admitted to hospitals,” Singh said.

Doctors at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital said the condition of one of the injured was serious.

Police are yet to identify who is behind the blast.

“There was panic with people running for their lives after the explosion,” said Arun Sharma, a witness. There were close to about 1,000 people in the area when the blast took place.

Among the major militant groups active in the state is the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.

Four northern Assam districts last week witnessed a string of violent ethnic clashes in which about 50 people were killed and more than 150,000 displaced.